31 Which of the two did the will of his[a] father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going ahead of you into the kingdom of God! 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did believe him. And when[b] you saw it,[c] you did not even change your minds later so as to believe in him.

The Parable of the Tenant Farmers in the Vineyard

33 “Listen to another parable: There was a man—a master of a house—who planted a vineyard, and put a fence around it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower, and leased it to tenant farmers, and went on a journey.

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 21:31 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  2. Matthew 21:32 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“saw”) which is understood as temporal
  3. Matthew 21:32 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation

31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors(A) and the prostitutes(B) are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness,(C) and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors(D) and the prostitutes(E) did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent(F) and believe him.

The Parable of the Tenants(G)

33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted(H) a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower.(I) Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.(J)

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